Incident occurred earlier this month at Brock and Spruce streets

Police car

UXBRIDGE -- Durham police and the family of an elderly woman injured in an accident earlier this month in Uxbridge are appealing for witnesses.

On July 15, a 73-year-old Uxbridge woman suffered what appeared to be minor injuries when she was either struck by a vehicle backing out of a parking spot near the intersection of Brock Street West and Spruce Street or was injured trying to get out of the way of the moving vehicle, police say.

Durham police spokesman Dave Selby said one witness was interviewed at the scene two weeks ago and at that time indicated the women was struck by a black SUV leaving a parking space. Beyond that, the witness wasn’t able to provide much of a description of the incident or vehicle.

The victim couldn’t recall what had happened.

“We interviewed the elderly female in the hospital and she wasn’t sure if she was actually struck by the vehicle or if she fell to try to avoid being struck,” said Mr. Selby.

Now the police and the women’s family, led by her daughter Kim Cicerella, are appealing to public for information -- especially in light of the fact that injuries sustained in the accident, initially deemed not serious, have worsened over the past couple of weeks.

“She’s got a broken wrist that’s pretty bad, a broken leg and her kidneys stopped working for almost two weeks and she’s being sent to convalescent care for 90 days of observation,” said Ms. Cicerella. “So we’re kind of interested in finding out if there are any other witnesses out there.”

Mr. Selby said it’s possible the driver of the vehicle may not have known that the women was either struck by the vehicle or suffered injuries in an attempt to avoid being struck.

Either way, police are urging that person to come forward as they continue to attempt to piece the puzzle together.

“The person operating this black SUV may not have known that they had set this series of events out,” Mr. Selby said. “Whether there was an actual physical collision or not, certainly there’s a witness that says this vehicle backing out certainly was a party to what happened.

“We’d love to speak to the person driving that black SUV on that day and for them to come forward. We really just want to talk to them at this point and see what their version (of events) was.”

Mr. Selby noted that the investigation remains open and that anyone else with new information can contact Durham police inspector Mitch Colling at 905-579-1520 ext. 2670 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at www.durhamregionalcrimestoppers.ca.

“We’re in need of further witnesses before we can move forward,” Mr. Selby said.